


Ghosted

by bluemountainsmajesty (orphan_account)



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Reader Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 15:35:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/bluemountainsmajesty
Summary: Gandalf brings Y/N to Middle Earth and needs to use more magic to keep her there. To pay off his debt to the wizard and keep around the woman he grows to love, Thorin offers to be the one she is magically bound to. There is a slight problem with the bind and after the battle, Thorin ends up as a ghost, following his beloved around in her world. Together, they must figure out how to get back- but to do that, Thorin needs to get her to notice him.





	1. Ghosted

As soon as the life drained from the orc’s eyes, Thorin relinquished the grip on his blade. He had buried it deep within the pale creature’s chest, just as he felt a harsh stab to his center. He heard the scream of horror come from nearby but was too focused- if he wasn’t going to be around to protect everyone, he had to make sure the filth wouldn’t do any more harm.

Still, as he dragged himself off of his former foe, he recognized Y/N right away.

He offered her a smile, which quickly transformed into a wince, as his hand shot to his wound. His knees buckled at the pain, he had never felt something so excruciating. This had to be the end.

Y/N was by his side in seconds and helped him lay down to avoid putting more strain on his bleeding abdomen. He wanted to tell her it wasn’t worth her effort, but with the tears pooling in her eyes he could tell she already knew that.

“Just hang on, Gandalf will be able to fix everything.” She said, gripping his hand as tightly as she could.

“Y/N,” he breathed, and she shut her eyes hearing how much he was straining his voice to speak. The tears rushed down her cheeks, and he brought his free hand to wipe them back, “I am not afraid, I know they’ll have you here to protect them.”

“But we need you.” She pleaded, “Please, I need you.”

He took in a strangled breath as his end drew nearer, and he looked away as he heard a sob escape her.

“It was supposed to be different.” She said, her voice sounding further and further away. Thorin turned back to look at her, wanting her to be the last thing he saw.

His voice was incredibly weak, but he had to at least try, “Take care of them, I…”

He trailed off, and she watched him fade, terror setting in as she scrambled to cradle his head, “Please, no, you can’t go.”

He couldn’t reply to her, and let out a wheezy breath, and in her state of panic, she looked around for any help at all.

“Dwalin!” She shouted, catching sight of the warrior. He had just stumbled upon the area, and called for the boys to follow him, “Please, you have to help.”

Thorin’s eyes were still on her, and she looked down again, pleading with him not to go anywhere, “Dwalin’s here, he’s brought the boys. They’re alright, but we need you to hold on.”

Her voice shook as she spoke to him, and as much as he wanted to stay, he knew they would be alright without him. His nephews would take as much care of her as she would of them. It was that comfort that allowed him to let go, the last thing he saw being his nephews kneeling beside his one before everything went dark.

He knew they would be okay.

* * *

Even with his eyes shut, he could feel the change around him. He was no longer surrounded by the people he loved, nor was he anywhere he could recognize. He could tell straight away that it wasn’t Middle Earth anymore, though that was about the extent of his knowledge.

He rose to his feet, taking in his surroundings as he checked his abdomen for the wound. When he found himself to be healed, he decided to discover where he was.

He stood inside someone’s home, noticed a dining area and looked around for any hint as to who he may encounter there. His hand held the hilt of his weapon, ready for anything after the sudden change in scenery.

In the next room over, he got his answer as to whose home he was in as he ran into the inhabitant of the abode.

Laying on the couch, curled up asleep was none other than Y/N. The Y/N he had just left in Middle Earth. She was supposed to be back there, what had happened?

To wake her up and find out, he crouched beside her, shaking her shoulder gently, “Wake up, my love. Do you know where we are?”

With a bit more coaxing, she finally came about, waking up and sitting up in alarm.

She raked her hands through her hair, her shoulders sinking as they slipped right through where she had had a courting braid just moments ago.

“That was the singular most vivid dream of my life.” She said, “How long was I asleep for?”

“I’m not sure.” Thorin replied, before repeating his question, “Do you know where we are?”

She didn’t react to his words at all but rose to her feet and stretched a moment before shuffling to the kitchen for a drink.

Thorin reached out for her hand, to catch her attention, and shouted as she slipped right through him. His hand appeared solid to him, and just a moment ago he had moved her shoulder, why had he just phased right through her?

“Did I leave a window open?” She asked, shivering as she got a drink, “Could’ve sworn I felt a draft.”

Thorin was in a full fledge panic at this point and ran into the kitchen behind her.

“Y/N, darling, please answer me.” He said, his voice growing more frantic as she searched for a cup, “Where are we? Can you hear me? Mahal, can you even see me?”

He felt sick and took a seat right there on the floor of the kitchen. He shoved a hand into his hair, raking it back from his face as he tried to come up with any reasonable explanation for what was happening.

“It’s still that early?” She asked, another yawn escaping her, “I’m going back to bed.”

“Maybe some rest is what I need too.” Thorin muttered, letting his head rest against the cabinets. He shut his eyes to gather his sanity, and he heard Y/N from partway down the hall.

“Maybe I’ll have a happier Thorin dream.” She said.

He perked up at hearing his name, if she at least knew of him, he stood some chance of figuring something out.

* * *

He spent nearly an hour trying to fall asleep and failing terribly. After tossing and turning for far too long, he sat up on the couch and began to brainstorm ways to make her notice him.

“Once we’re working together, we can find a way home.” He said, looking around the room to get an idea.

He rose to his feet and scoured for anything he could use to get her attention. He just needed parchment and ink, surely, she would have some around somewhere.

He wound up digging through drawers and finding squares of parchment, small enough to fit in his hand and stuck together in a chain. He tore one of the yellow squares away from the others and found something he could make a mark with. It looked to be wood at first glance, but the tip allowed him to write. He wouldn’t bother questioning it, it was far less pressing than the task at hand.  
With the wooden writing implement, he went to write on the square.

A yawn made him pause for a moment, his need for sleep beginning to catch up with him. Having just died a short while ago had left him rather tired.

Still, he scribbled out a short note, explaining that he was there and the two of them needed to figure out what was happening. He used the sticky side to attach it to the door of her bedroom, before returning to the couch, disregarding the mess he had made of the kitchen as he finally got some rest.

When morning came, and Y/N got up, Thorin was still fast asleep.

Y/N however, was going through her usual routine, and after finally getting out of bed, she shuffled to the door of her room.

As she tugged her it open, a rush of air came at her, blowing the sticky that had fallen during the night, underneath the open door. Had she not been shutting her eyes at the sunlight pouring into the room, she might have seen Thorin’s attempt at alerting her to his presence.

Instead, she continued on with her morning. The only thing that caught her attention was when she got to the kitchen and saw a bit of a mess made of her kitchen. There were sticky notes strewn across the table, a couple batteries and some pens and pencils scattered around as well.

“I don’t remember doing that.” She said, though, she was tired the night before. She wouldn’t put it past herself to have done it, “Oh man, I better get going.”

That was the first of many failed attempts to get her to notice what was happening. Thorin spent weeks thinking of ways to connect with her, and eventually got to know the old life she had before the wizard intervened.

She had a fairly busy schedule, it took Thorin back to his days working in the forges of men. Sure, she didn’t return covered in soot and grime, but she was clearly tired at the end of a long day.  
He tried to do whatever he could to ease things for her, growing more grateful for the wizard’s whisking her off to Middle Earth the longer he was there. Not only could he take care of her, but some of the things shown on the news station were more than alarming. He spent most of his time hoping they could go back to a world he felt was safer, because he knew how to protect her from the creatures that lurked in Middle Earth.

He had never understood the magic of it, and perhaps if he had, he would’ve been able to work out a way to fix everything. Somehow though, the wizard had found you, brought you into a different world, and shifted the fates of him and his kin. For all that had been done, Thorin was so indebted to the grey wizard, that he found himself signing a contract.

The way the wizard had explained it, was that it was necessary to bind Y/N to Middle Earth, or else the spell would eventually wear off and she would vanish. To keep his one with him, Thorin had scrawled his name onto the parchment, having not fully understood that the wizard had made a slight error.

He hadn’t completed the bind properly, and instead of the bind working as intended, once Thorin passed on, she went back to her old world, and the bind brought Thorin with her. If the wizard had any way to contact them, he would’ve been able to tell Thorin how to break the ghost clause, but unfortunately, they were worlds apart. It would be up to them to figure it out, if they ever could.


	2. Haunting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N finds it weird that she still vividly remembers the dream of middle earth days later. Still, maybe it’s not so bad. (Reader's POV)

The past few weeks had felt incredibly off, something clearly wasn’t right. Whenever you weren’t busy doing something, you found yourself thinking about how _real_ that dream felt. You were distracted, to say the least and you were starting to wonder if you would ever forget about it.

You hardly ever remembered dreams for more than a couple of days, at least not this vividly. If you shut your eyes, you could still picture everything clear as day. The weirdest thing about it, was that you had all of your other senses too. You could smell the smoke, the food, even the blood. You could feel fabrics, the wind, the bite of the cold and a larger hand enclosing around yours.

You’re favorite thing to remember though, was from partway through the dream. It had been like one big sequence. The dream had taken you through a story, not leaving out a single second.

* * *

You were safe for the moment; no longer running but letting your guard down for the first time in a while. The company had a real place to stay for the night, even if their host had been less than thrilled about the whole thing.

Partway through the meal with Beorn, you suddenly remembered where it was you would be going next. Hello giant creepy people-eating spiders, goodbye appetite.

“Excuse me.” You said, quietly enough as to only notify the people to either side of you.

“You alright?” Bofur had stopped joking, noticing your change in expression, “Aren’t getting sick, are you?”

“No, I’m fine.” You promised, stepping away from the table, “I just need a moment.”

You had wandered away from the table, pausing by the fire to try and distract yourself from the next part of the quest. First came Mirkwood, with everyone losing their sense, then the spiders… If you were so worried about them, what would you do about the damn dragon?

“Would you take a walk with me?” You heard, turning around to see the leader of the company, the reason you wanted to stay in Middle Earth, standing there.

He took you further through the hall, away from the company, before taking a seat and gesturing for you to copy.

“I should have known the wizard wanted something out of this quest.” He said, “I only knew what it was when he brought you along.”

“I try not to be a burden.” You assured him.

He shook his head, resting a hand on your knee, “And you could never be one. When I look at you, do you know what I see?”

You had a few ideas but he hadn’t opened up like this to you before so you let him keep going.

“I see a strong, beautiful woman who will make a great Aunt to my nephews and a great Queen to my people.” He finished his sentence with a gentle squeeze of your hand, “If she wishes to remain with me.”

You were at a loss for words, to say the least. Luckily, you knew a way to get how you felt across without having to find the right words.

His eyes darted away from yours, looking down at your hands again, before he continued to feel your stare and looked up.

You inched closer to him, until you were barely a hairsbreadth away and leaned in. Thorin moved quicker though, eagerly pressing his lips against yours. For a split second you were caught off guard but that was disregarded as you kissed him back with equal fervor.

You wanted more, forget about the company being so close, all you could think about was him. One of his hands settled on your lower back and you shifted, wrapping an arm around his neck as he pulled you even closer.

He had practically pulled you onto his lap, clearly having broken the dam in kissing you, he wanted it just as badly as you did.

* * *

At that point, someone passed your desk, snapping you out of yet another daydream. You nearly cursed him before you overheard the usual end of day goodbyes and glanced at the clock.

Well, at least it was the end of the day. Time to go home, even if it had felt weirdly different lately.

You got up and stretched a bit, gathered your things and went out the door, eager for the weekend to begin. You needed the couple of days to sort this dream business out. Why was it sticking so strongly?


	3. Spirits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Y/N can’t figure out why things keep moving around her apartment, Thorin is trying everything he can to get noticed.

You got home from work well enough, traffic wasn’t wonderful, but at least the day was over. You kicked your shoes off at the door, ditched your jacket and plopped on the couch for a minute.

You were about to zone out, give yourself a few mindless moments to recharge before changing into comfy clothes and settling in for the night, when you noticed that things weren’t right.

You sat up, suddenly very alert as you noticed everything disheveled or subtly moved around. It looked as though someone had rifled through your things. You jumped out of your skin as you heard something fall in the bathroom.

Utterly terrified, you didn’t know what to do. Someone was in your apartment, going through your things, and they were still there. Looking around for a weapon, you grabbed the frying pan off of your stovetop, before taking a breath and heading down the hall to your bathroom.

You took inventory as you went through your apartment, your tv was still there, your laptop… nothing seemed to be missing, just moved. Somehow, that made it more unsettling. If they didn’t want your things, what did they want?

Once the bathroom door was pushed open, you froze.

The mirror was half written on and the lipstick you had just splurged on the other day was suspended in the air. If you were any less terrified, you would have screamed.

The message on the mirror read, ‘Must return, King alive’

Suddenly, the lipstick grew animated, urgently scribbling on the mirror to finish the message.

‘Don’t scream’ was added, which didn’t make you worry any less.

The lipstick tapped the mirror twice under the word ‘don’t’ and that was it, you reached out to snatch it out of the air. That wasn’t cheap and you hadn’t even had a chance to use it yet. No ghost was going to ruin your makeup. 

Your hand enclosed around the air before the lipstick, and the ghost flickered to be visible. There stood Thorin, looking frantic before you. 

“Oh my god.” You whispered, “I’m losing it.”

“Can you see me?” He asked tentatively, noticing your shift in expression. When you nodded at him, he lit up, “Finally, we need to get back to Middle Earth, they need us.”

“I just- I need to go sit down.” You said, sitting on the edge of your bathtub and setting your head in your hands. Setting the frying pan on the floor of the tub, you rubbed your face, shutting your eyes for a moment before jumping out of your skin as a hand rested on your back. 

“I know this is confusing.” He said, “But I don’t know how long we have to get back- if we can at all.”

“Why do you keep saying ‘we’ need to go back?” You asked him, clearly aggravated with the situation.

He looked crestfallen at that, “I thought you remembered the dream.”

“That was just a dream, it doesn’t mean anything.” You said, trying to grip at reality, “I mean, I should probably tone down the Hobbit stuff, but it was just a dream.”

“What about hobbits?” He asked, before shaking his head, “Never mind that, the wizard did something, but the battle is still going on, we must return.”

“Are you talking about the Battle of the Five Armies?” You asked, “That’s where you die, or well… died.”

“I know, but you didn’t.” He said, “You were supposed to stay there, that’s what Gandalf said.”

“You aren’t making any sense, let’s just get a drink.” You suggested, “We can talk about this, if you’re still here in a while.”

Standing up, you moved out of the bathroom and headed for your kitchen down the hall.

“Good idea ghivasel.” He said, following you.

“What did you just say?” You asked over your shoulder. You had read enough fanfiction to know what that meant, but why was he calling you that?

“Let’s get that drink first, shall we?” He suggested.


	4. Unfinished Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thorin and Y/N sit down to discuss their predicament.

Sitting at your table with Thorin, neither one of you had spoken yet. Instead, you swirled your wine in your glass, watching him as if waiting for the apparition to vanish before you. All the while, the echoes of what he had called you repeated in your mind.

Ghivashel.

Thorin set his glass back down, before looking at the liquid in surprise, “This is very nice.”

“Thank you.” You replied, wondering when you would both stop pretending this was normal, “Are we going to discuss this?”

“There’s a lot to discuss.” He sighed, leaning back against his chair. His gaze rested back on you, as if he had known you forever, “What do you wish to know?”

“Just start at the beginning.” You said, unsure of where the tale would take you, “If I ask you to stop-”

“I will in an instant.” He assured you, “So, the beginning?”

You nodded, raising your glass to your lips as he took in a breath. He began the tale with their encounter at Bag End.

* * *

He had traveled from the Iron Hills, a meeting with Dain to try and gain their aid for his quest before going to meet with the Company in the Shire. The second the door was open, he was greeted by familiar faces and his burglar. He had circled halfway around the hobbit before smiling at his nephews- then he saw her.

In the entrance to the kitchen stood a woman, looking to see what was going on as everyone crowded the hall. Thorin continued his interrogation of the hobbit, though his thoughts lingered on her.

“I’m sure you’re hungry.” She stepped in after he had questioned Bilbo enough, “There’s a bit of soup left, if you want it.”

He nodded politely, an extreme change in his demeanor that hadn’t gone unnoticed by his kin, “Thank you. You must be Mrs. Baggins.”

Her eyes went wide and she laughed at that, “Oh no, not at all. I’m Y/N L/N, a… friend of Gandalf’s.”

Thorin glanced at the wizard, who was hardly masking his own amusement as he set the tip of his pipe between his lips.

“She’ll be accompanying us.” Gandalf explained.

“Then there you have it, she’ll be your burglar.” Bilbo tried.

“Oh no, you’ll make a much better burglar than she would.” Gandalf shook his head.

Gandalf deterred all questions asked about the girl, insisting that she’d be useful until he finally got angry enough. A cloud of darkness grew around him as he rose his voice, “If I say Y/N L/N is joining the quest, then she shall.”

The company was a bit wary of her at first, but none of them were prepared to fight the wizard on his decision. Thorin hadn’t yet told the others that the girl held his attention, but over the journey they had warmed up to her.

“Come on lass, you’ll want to set your roll down before all the good spots are taken.” Bofur warned, patting her back.

She undid her roll from her pack and went to tie her horse to a tree before bumping into the leader of their company. He held the reigns in his hands and looped them loosely, securing the horse.

“There we are.” He said, “Can’t have her running off.”

“Thank you.” Y/N looked flustered at his special attention, probably worried he would try to kick her off the quest. Although, he was a man of his word, and she had signed the contract.

“I’ve already set my things down, just move my pack and you should have enough space.” He told her, pointing towards where he had set his things.

“I wouldn’t want to take your spot.” She said, he was royalty after all.

Thorin shook his head, leading her over to the spot with a hand on the small of her back. He lifted his pack and showed her there was room for both, in close quarters.

“Unless you’d rather sleep by Bombur.” He teased.

“Oh no, this is perfect.” She assured him, “Thank you.”

She set up her roll and saw Thorin stood leaning against a rock nearby. He had been watching her intently as she got her space together and looked a bit flustered at being caught.

He pushed off the rock and cleared his throat, “We’ll need fire wood.”

Every time Y/N turned around during the quest, Thorin was always there. Ready to stand between her and an orc, or the hoard of goblins, or offer a hand to steady her over uneven terrain. At first, losing the ponies seemed the worst thing that could’ve happened, but Thorin appreciated the excuse to lend a hand to the girl who ruled his mind.

* * *

“Hold on.” You had him stop and he blushed, having gotten a little caught up in his reminiscing, “I remember the story, but why are we here?”

Thorin was relieved to hear that she remembered, “You know it was more than a dream then?”

You had thrown in the towel on things making sense long ago, “You died, I don’t understand how we got here.”

Thorin would’ve rather spent more time recounting the tale of your relationship, but if you wanted answers, it was only fair to give them to you. If only he had them, “I don’t know.”

“Great.” You polished off your glass and Thorin rose to pour you more, “Oh, thank you.”

“Of course, ghivashel.” He topped off his own glass and set the bottle down. If you remembered the tale and knew it wasn’t a dream, would you still want to be with him? “Do you remember us? The night I put my braid in your hair? Our time under the stars at the skin-changer’s home?”

His fingers reached for your cheek, then brushed through your hair. He clearly cared about you, just one look at him would tell you that. Your mind wandered for a moment, could the two of you have a life together if you never got back to Middle Earth? Would he be happy staying with you?

“Thorin?” You asked, noticing him smile as you looked up at him, “I’m not sure if we can ever get you back to your home.”

“Our home.” He rested a hand on your knee, “When we find a way, I’d like you to come back with me. We need not be apart.”

Was that even possible? If you found a way back, could you be happy there? 

“We can discuss this in the morning.” He assured you, “Get some rest, Y/N.”


End file.
